Putin’s Labyrinth

Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia

In Putin’s Labyrinth, acclaimed journalist Steve LeVine, who lived inand reported from the former Soviet Union for more than a decade, provides a gripping account of modern Russia. President Dmitri Medvedev and the country’s real power, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, are posing a resolute challenge to the West. In a penetrating narrative that recounts the lives and deaths of six Russians, LeVine portrays the growth of a “culture of death”—from targeted assassinations of the state’s enemies to the Kremlin’s indifference when innocent hostages are slaughtered. Interviews with eyewitnessesand the families and friends of these victims reveal how Russians manage to negotiate their way around the ever-present danger of violence and the emotional toll that this lethal maze is exacting on ordinary people. The result is a fresh way of assessing the forces that are driving this major new confrontation with the West.

PRAISE FOR

“If Steve LeVine’s aim in his new book, Putin’s Labyrinth, was to chill us to the marrow about post-communist Russia, he has succeeded. . . . LeVine’s investigations and interviews are thorough and his conclusions sober.”—Chicago Tribune

“Putin’s Labyrinthis an extremely readable account that is as timely as today’s news stories. I recommend it without reservation.”—David M. Kinchen, HuntingtonNews.net

“[A] hot-off-the-presses exposé . . . LeVine’s important take on the all-too-real machinations and bloodthirstiness from which espionage thrillers are made is both unnerving and intriguing.”—Booklist

“A riveting look at today’s Russia under the leadership of Vladimir Putin.”—Kingston Observer